Punjab Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Environmental Protection Raja Basharat on Tuesday said that all possible measures would be adopted to deal with the challenge of environmental changes.
The Environment Protection Department (EPD) would provide funding for launching 100 eco-friendly buses in Lahore while 30 air and 15 water monitoring stations would be established in Punjab.
He was presiding over a meeting in the Environment Protection Department. Secretary Environment Protection Punjab Dr Naeem Rauf briefed the minister on departmental affairs and future plans.
Basharat Raja, while addressing the meeting, said that ensuring the protection of the environment was a big challenge.
He said under the directions of Chief Minister Punjab Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, steps would be taken to protect the environment. “Pending work of the department will be resolved immediately, he said and added the department would be made strong financially”, he said.
Raja Basharat directed that other relevant departments should be involved to make an action plan effective and in the next meeting, the secretaries Cooperatives, Transport and Forests should also be called to take matters forward quickly.
He pointed out that the smog season was near after the rainy season. The minister said he would request the chief minister to immediately release 80 million rupees for installing air quality index gadgets. “Anti-smog measures will be taken keeping in mind experiences of the past years”, the minister added.
He said that 426 million trees were planted to combat climate change. This year, the EPD had set a target of planting 100 million more trees”, Raja Basharat maintained.
As many as 201 units were sealed in three months for violating the law while 1,372 smoke-emitting vehicles had been impounded since May.
